Still waiting on invite...

[kellyconnor]

I hate being impatient but I didn't think we would still be waiting for our EOI for SA. Husband is an Air Conditioning technician which is in high demand. Our agent submitted our EOI 3 weeks ago - anyone else been given an invitation lately or is it all slowing down now until the new financial year? I am sure there are people who have been waiting a lot longer than us and I know the next step is an even longer waiting game so I will probably age quite rapidly over the next year!!

[Guest lilgal89]

It took nearly 10 weeks for our invite - we submitted beginning of August and got the invite in October. SA does seem to be slow compared to other states.

[kellyconnor]

10 weeks is a long time to wait can I ask what occupation it was? I just need to chill out and let things progress in their own time or else I will end up like a crazy woman!! I just wondered if the slow down in visa grants was also affecting the EOI process? It looks like you are off to Adelaide in a couple of months - exciting times!

[Toneless]

Hi Kelly

 

I wouldn't be in a big hurry it looks like it's going to be July before any visa grants.

That means we won't have as much time to validate our visa which I don't think is fair.

But good luck with the rest of your journey.

[kellyconnor]

Hi Toneless why does it affect the time to validate visas? How long do you get to validate a visa? I haven't even asked my agent anything about visa validation timeframes but I suppose I am not far enough along my journey to even think that yet! I see from your signature it took you almost a month to get an invitation from SA - I best start chilling out

[Guest lilgal89]

It was Bricklayer (my husband not me! lol) I don't know why it took so long - especially when some other states issue same day!

[kellyconnor]

Oh well at least you are all sorted now. What part are you looking to move to? I am keeping an eye on my job prospects - I'm a Marketing Manager but not really seeing much at the minute not that it matters given where we are in the process!

[Toneless]

Hi Kelly.

 

You normally get one year from the date of your medical or police checks whichever comes first to validate your visa.

We should have had our visa already judging by the other time lines.

[kellyconnor]

ah right I thought it was 1 year from visa grant doh! Fingers crossed you get yours soon!

[Guest lilgal89]

We're going to South Adelaide - my husband has work (luckily through some friends) I work in HR but anything admin based will do initially. I have been applying while still here and had a few responses so i'm feeling positive!

 

Hope you get your grant soon x

[kellyconnor]

Good luck with the move and the job hunt, hopefully I will be following you over later next year!

[minimel2710]

Hey Kelly, we did our eoi in February and got an invite really quickly. Within 3 weeks. We are now inches away from lodgement (our visa agent assures us) but obviously because of the visa delays, we won't know anything til July. I'm hoping that once the application is lodged, it will be actioned BEFORE July and will just sit in a pile waiting for July til it can be granted... Does that make sense? Does anyone else think I'm on the right track? I would hate to think that once the visa is lodged, it won't even be looked at until July... All this waiting is soo painful!

hubby is a lift engineer (or mechanic as the Aussies call it) although technically the job doesn't really exist in oz - even though it's on the sol. Lifts fall under the umbrella of special class electrician which is crazy because you don't have to be an electrician in the uk to work on lifts... LONG! Everything about emigrating to australia is long! But it will be worth it

[soo_the_panda]

Hi Kelly, just some info re jobs that may help - I'm also a marketing manager. In Adelaide most marketing jobs seem to be in either government or not for profit - we just don't have many big organisations here with head offices (mainly in Melbourne and on the East Coast). Most of my marketing/comms friends seem to work for charities, universities etc as there just isn't much in eg retail etc that you might expect in a city of a similar size. A lot of the charity roles combine marketing with fundraising, comms, events or digital so having skills in another area definitely helps. Let me know if you want any further info. Cheers

[kellyconnor]

Thanks soo_the_panda funnily enough I am working for a Sector Skills Council in the UK so I have a little Government/ not for profit experience but tbh I do prefer commercial. From a marketing perspective I am an all rounder pretty much done a bit of everything over the last 12 years mainly in the IT and Communications industry with a little bit of agency work thrown in for good measure! I also have some sales experience too so will see what happens if we get a visa! What's your thoughts on joining the Australian Marketing Institute or should I just stick with the UK CIM or is it not worth bothering with either? It's good to get some information on the jobs available so thanks for the heads up

[soo_the_panda]

Thanks soo_the_panda funnily enough I am working for a Sector Skills Council in the UK so I have a little Government/ not for profit experience but tbh I do prefer commercial. From a marketing perspective I am an all rounder pretty much done a bit of everything over the last 12 years mainly in the IT and Communications industry with a little bit of agency work thrown in for good measure! I also have some sales experience too so will see what happens if we get a visa! What's your thoughts on joining the Australian Marketing Institute or should I just stick with the UK CIM or is it not worth bothering with either? It's good to get some information on the jobs available so thanks for the heads up

 

Hi Kelly, to be honest nobody I know here would see either institute as a 'must have.' The organisations I've worked in here have generally had some level of membership, but may be head of department/marketing manager only, or may have some kind of organisational membership. I definitely wouldn't keep paying for a UK one as I don't think it'll increase your chances here (just have that you were a member somewhere on your CV - but not a biggie here). Feel free to get in touch nearer the time or once you're here if you want to chat over any job stuff. A couple of things I've found here are that networking is pretty key. There are lots of casual networking events across all sectors, quite often just after work pub drinks with a speaker. There's an active group using the hashtag #socadl on twitter who are any professionals using social media - they have a monthly catch up usually in CBD pubs with a speaker. Definitely a good way to get to know people and I have always found people at these events (and similar groups) very welcoming to newbies. There are also lots of mentoring schemes around - maybe a good way to get to know people by offering your skills as a mentor?

Cheers

[kellyconnor]

Thanks for all the info and will keep in touch once we get a bit further down the line. I can't wait to get this show on the road but potentially it's going to be a long journey! Kel

Hi Kelly, to be honest nobody I know here would see either institute as a 'must have.' The organisations I've worked in here have generally had some level of membership, but may be head of department/marketing manager only, or may have some kind of organisational membership. I definitely wouldn't keep paying for a UK one as I don't think it'll increase your chances here (just have that you were a member somewhere on your CV - but not a biggie here). Feel free to get in touch nearer the time or once you're here if you want to chat over any job stuff. A couple of things I've found here are that networking is pretty key. There are lots of casual networking events across all sectors, quite often just after work pub drinks with a speaker. There's an active group using the hashtag #socadl on twitter who are any professionals using social media - they have a monthly catch up usually in CBD pubs with a speaker. Definitely a good way to get to know people and I have always found people at these events (and similar groups) very welcoming to newbies. There are also lots of mentoring schemes around - maybe a good way to get to know people by offering your skills as a mentor?

Cheers

[emwatson]

I hate being impatient but I didn't think we would still be waiting for our EOI for SA. Husband is an Air Conditioning technician which is in high demand. Our agent submitted our EOI 3 weeks ago - anyone else been given an invitation lately or is it all slowing down now until the new financial year? I am sure there are people who have been waiting a lot longer than us and I know the next step is an even longer waiting game so I will probably age quite rapidly over the next year!!

 

Hi, I'm a newbie to this forum. I

 

I'm a secondary school science teacher and got my invitation within 3 weeks. Timeline:

08/03/14 - EOI submitted for myself + de facto partner

21/03/14 - SA state nomination application submitted

15/04/14 - Invitation to apply for 190 received with deadline of 14th June 2014.

16/04/14 - Registered online for an E-medical account and completed the E-visa healthcheck which gave me a HAP ID number and allowed me to book my medicals before lodging the visa application.

26/04/14 - Medicals undertaken - the Panel Doctor advised that the results would be sent through to E-medical/Immi within 1 week.

27/04/14 - 190 visa application lodged and fees paid. I then immediately started uploading/attaching documents and colour scans online for the evidence that was in the document checklist.

05/05/14 - I checked today and the documents have all been identified as "received" whilst a couple are listed as "required", e.g. the medicals stuff, which mustn't have been received yet. The Visa status has changed from "submitted" to "processing".

 

I know the immi.gov website says about 3 months processing time but this seems to be going through quite quickly, and I haven't been assigned a CO (yet). I'm a teacher and need to give notice either 31st May (to leave in the summer) or 31st Oct (to be able to leave at Christmas). I have taken a risk and handed my notice in - I didn't want to be stuck for another several months if the visa happened to be granted more quickly than suggested! I know it is advised against but my employers have been really supportive, promising to help out with finding me supply work if the visa gets delayed and because they recognise that if the visa is granted after 31st May and I hadn't given noticed then I would be contracted to stay until 31st Dec. The new school year in Oz starts in January so this would be cutting things pretty close! Also, I understand that I must register with a teacher registration board if I want to teach in state schools - which can take up to 8 weeks after entering Oz. Ideally, if everything goes through successfully of course, we aim to be out there by October.

 

Anyway, I hope this is helpful... I'll keep you updated!